Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to prevent walkers on public footpaths being killed by cattle.

Promoting safety in the countryside and ensuring the public feel safe and confident while using the rights of way network is very important.

The Health and Safety Executive provides advice on keeping cattle in areas where there are public rights of way and in open access areas, which can be accessed here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ais17ew.pdf. It provides a list of actions which farmers can take to avoid or mitigate risk; for example, keeping stock elsewhere, avoiding fields with public access, putting up temporary fencing and clear signposting.

Cattle, particularly if with calves, can occasionally become aggressive towards dogs. The current Countryside Code pages on GOV.UK give advice for the public on dogs and farm animals, as well as advice for land managers regarding identifying threats to visitor safety. These pages can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-countryside-code/countryside-code-full-online-version. Natural England is refreshing the code for a planned relaunch next year which will provide an opportunity to reinforce messaging around cattle and public access.